Quotes: Bette Davis

"Success is built on disappointment, and disappointment is inherent in all success." 

–– Bette Davis (1908-1989), American actress

Quotes: Susan Sontag

"Do stuff, be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager." 

–– Susan Sontag (1933-2004), American novelist and essayist

Quotes: Sara Ahmed

"When you expose a problem, you pose a problem." 

–– Sara Ahmed (b. 1969), British-Australian scholar

Quotes: Audrey Hepburn

"I believe, every day, you should have at least one exquisite moment." 

–– Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), British actress

Quotes: Georgia O'Keeffe

"I think it's so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary –– you're happy for an instant and they you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous."

–– Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), American artist 

Quotes: Anaïs Nin

"We don't see things as they are. We see them as we are."

–– Anaïs Nin (1903-1977), French-Cuban American writer 

Quotes: Albert Einstein

"I think 99 times and I find nothing. I stop thinking, swim in silence, and the truth comes to me."

–– Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born American theoretical physicist 

Quotes: Charles Bukowski

"Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?" 

–– Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), German-born, American author 

Quotes: Paul Arden

"The problem with hoarding is you end up living off your reserves. Eventually, you'll become stale. If you give away everything you have, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish. ... Somehow the more you give away, the more comes back to you."

 –– Paul Arden (1940-2008), British creative director and author 

** Pair this quote with Annie Dillard

Source: Austin Kleon. Show Your Work! New York: Workman Publishing Company, 2014; p. 72. 

via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2024, p. 185.

Quotes: Sir John Templeton

"It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different from the majority." 

–– Sir John Templeton (1912-2008), American-born British investor, banker and philanthropist

Source: Peter Attia. Outlive. New York: Harmony, 2023; p. 235.

via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook L 2024, p. 40. 

Quotes: Quincy Jones

"I believe that survival is also an act of creativity. It's a matter of seeking out new ways to stay inspired, and creating paths that lead to a better future for yourself, and in turn, others."

–– Quincy Jones (b. 1933), American record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. 

Source: Quincy Jones. 12 Notes on Life and Creativity. New York: Abrams Image, 2022; p. 24. 

via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2023, p. 120.

Quotes: James Hollis

"Ask yourself of every dilemma, every choice, every relationship, every commitment, or every failure to commit, "Does this choice diminish me or enlarge me?" 

–– James Hollis (b. 1940), American Jungian psychotherapist, author and public speaker 

Source: James Hollis. What Matters Most. 

Quotes: Russell Brand

"One day at a time. It sounds so simple. It actually is simple but it isn't easy: It requires incredible support and fastidious structuring." 

–– Russell Brand (b. 1975), English comedian, actor, activist

Source: Austin Kleon. Show Your Work! New York: Workman Publishing Company, 2014; p. 55. 

Quotes: Paul Arden

"The world is what you think of it. So think of it differently and your life will change." 

–– Paul Arden (1940-2008), British creative director and author

Source: Paul Arden. Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite. New York: Penguin, 2006; p. 136. 

via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2024, p. 188.

Quotes: Oscar Wilde

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."

–– Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish poet and playwright 

Source: Paul Arden. Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite. New York: Penguin, 2006; p. 76. 

via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2024, p. 188.

Quotes: Muhammad Ali

"I never won a fight in the ring; I always won in preparation."

–– Muhammad Ali (1942-2016), American professional boxer, activist, and entertainer 

Source: Peter Attia. Outlive. New York: Harmony, 2023; p. 216. 

via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook L 2024, p. 40. 

Quotes: Bruce Lee

"Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is specifically your own." 

 –– Bruce Lee (1940-1973), Hong Kong-American martial artist and actor 

Source: Peter Attia. Outlive. New York: Harmony, 2023; p. 209. 

via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook L 2024, p. 40. 

Quotes: Jony Ive

"It's very easy to be different, but very difficult to be better." 

–– Jony Ive (b. 1967), British-American designer 

Quotes: Friedrich Nietzsche

"There's more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy." 

–– Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German poet and philosopher 

Quotes: Marcus Aurelius

"You have power over your mind –– not outside events." 

–– Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD), Roman Emperor and Stoic Philosopher 

Quotes: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"The objects we possess ... They tell us things about ourselves that we need to hear in order to keep ourselves from falling apart." 

–– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934-2021), Hungarian-American psychologist and author

Source: Austin Kleon newsletter, May 14, 2024

Quotes: Sherry Turkle

"We think with the objects we love; we love the objects we think with." 

–– Sherry Turkle (b. 1948), American sociologist, professor, author 

Source: Sherry Turkle. Evocative Objects., 2007 via Austin Kleon newsletter, May 14, 2024

Quotes: Erika Cramer

"Most people aren't jealous of the things you have, or even the way you look. It's always the energy. Your aura. Your electricity. The vibe you emit. It shakes them up and awakens dormant frequencies that remind them they can be better but choose not to. You got them shook, keep going." 

–– Erika Cramer, American public speaker, author, podcaster, coach 

Source: The Queen of Confidence, Instagram, June 10, 2024

Quotes: Maya Angelou

"Because of the routines we follow, we often forget that life is an ongoing adventure ... and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art: to bring all our energies to each encounter, to remain flexible enough to notice and admit when what we expected to happen did not happen. We need to remember that we are created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed." 

–– Maya Angelou (1928-2014), American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist 

Source: Nitch on Instagram, Friday July 5, 2024

Quotes: Joan Rivers

"I have become my own version of an optimist. If I can't make it through one door, I'll go through another door – or I'll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present." 

–– Joan Rivers (1933-2014), American comedian, actress, television host

Quotes: Paulo Coelho

"If you are brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello."

–– Paulo Coelho (b. 1947), Brazilian writer and lyricist 

Quotes: Hayao Miyazaki

"Whenever someone creates something with all their heart, then that creation is given a soul." 

–– Hayao Miyazaki (b. 1941), Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist 

Quotes: Rūmī

"As you start to walk on the way, the way appears." 

–– Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (1207-1273), Persian poet and Sufi mystic; interpretation by Coleman Barks (b. 1937), American poet

Quotes: Michelle Richmond

    "Whenever she was having trouble making sense of a problem, Lila used to turn the piece of paper she was working on upside down. "It helps to see it from a new perspective," she would say. "This way, I have to concentrate on each number, each symbol. It's like having a second set of eyes with which to view the same picture. Sometimes a completely different angle is all I need to break through." 

–– Michelle Richmond, American writer 

Source: Michelle Richmond. No One You Know. New York: Bantam Dell, 2008; p. 89. 

via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2023, p. 136.

Quotes: Steven Heighton

"Novelty is nothing more than a fresh combining."

–– Steven Heighton (1961-2022), Canadian novelist, poet, short-story writer

Source: Steven Heighton. Work Book. Toronto, Ontario: ECW Press, 2011, p. 25.

via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2023, p.115. 

Quotes: Kyo Maclear

"To what do we commit ourselves and for how long? Monet painted the Nymphéas two hundred and forty-seven times. "It took me some time to understand my waterlilies," he wrote. The older I get the more I understand this impulse toward reduction and repetition; the more I understand there is infinitude in a spartan focus, in Agnes Martin's geometries, in Giorgio Morandi's vases. Focalizing can be regenerative even for those of us who believe the sprawling clamour of the world demands our promiscuous attention.

–– Kyo Maclear (b. 1970), British-born, Canadian writer and artist 

Source: Kyo Maclear. Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2023; pp. 193. 

via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2023, p.108.